London, Feb 9 (EFE) .- A study published Tuesday by The Lancet reveals that if countries raise their climate ambitions in order to meet the goals stipulated in the Paris Agreement and prioritize health, millions of dollars will be saved annually. lives by 2040.
The adoption of policies consistent with reaching the goals contained in the aforementioned agreement and putting health first could save 6.4 million lives due to a better diet; 1.6 million lives from cleaner air and 2.1 million lives from increased exercise each year in nine countries.
This is clear from new research highlighting the health benefits that would accrue if countries adopt climate plans in line with the Paris Agreement, aimed at limiting global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius.”
The countries taken into account, representing 50% of the world’s population and 70% of global emissions, are: Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The signatories of the Paris Agreement are reviewing the so-called “contributions” (NDC) for this year’s summit in Scotland – COP26 -, which should have been delivered before the end of 2020.
The study indicates that currently those contributions are not strong enough to comply with the agreement.
“Our study focuses on a crucial but often overlooked incentive to eradicate climate change,” says Ian Hamilton, Executive Director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.
He adds that “unlike the direct benefits of emissions mitigation, which are long-term and understood in terms of damage limitation, the co-benefits of health and ambitious climate policies have an immediate positive impact.”
“The message is clear. Not only does complying with Paris prevent millions of lives from dying prematurely each year, the quality of life for millions more will improve with better health. We have an opportunity to put health at the forefront of policy. of climate change to save even more lives, “he says.
In this research, the emissions generated by the energy, agriculture and transportation sectors, annual deaths due to air pollution, risk factors related to diet and physical inactivity, were estimated for the year 2040 in three scenarios different contributions (NDC).
The starting scenario took into account the current contribution policies; the second, the policies adopted in line with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, and a third scenario analyzed the benefit of incorporating explicit health objectives within a scenario of sustainable pathways.
In the nine countries, the experts observed that with the scenario that complied with the Paris Agreement, 5.8 million lives could be saved by a better diet, 1.2 million lives by cleaner air and 1.2 million lives from increased exercise.
Adopting a more ambitious path with explicit health goals could result in a further reduction in annual deaths – 462,000, 572,000, and 943,000 – attributed to environmental pollution, diet, and physical inactivity respectively.
According to this, all the countries benefit the most from the improvements introduced in the diet and, specifically, those that obtain the most benefits from the nutritional improvements in proportional terms are Germany, with 188 deaths averted per 100,000 inhabitants annually; The United States, with 171 deaths averted per 100,000 and China, with 167 deaths averted per 100,000.
“As countries are called upon to increase their level of ambition ahead of COP 26 in Glasgow, the coming months represent a key moment in the fight against climate change and an opportunity to improve global health. If there is a need to an ultimatum to motivate action, we have it and it’s November, “remarks Alastair Brown, editor-in-chief of The Lancet Planetary Health. EFE
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